National Catholic Review (Op-Ed)
By Kevin Appleby
February 16, 2016
One
of Pope Francis’s goals during his visit to Mexico is to highlight the
issue of migrants and their mistreatment by governments in the region,
particularly children
and families fleeing violence in Central America.
In
calling attention to this issue, the Holy Father will inevitably be
confronted with the question of national sovereignty and the rights of
nations to control their
borders: Do governments not have the right to determine who enters
their territories? While the church has a well-developed and well-known
teaching on the rights of persons to migrate, less clear to many
observers—and mischaracterized by critics—is its teaching
on the right of nation states to control their borders, and the means
that they choose to do so.
It
may come as a surprise to detractors of the Catholic position on
immigration, but the Catholic Church acknowledges and supports the right
of nations to control their
borders and to enforce their laws. Indeed, enforcement is a key
ingredient of a sound immigration policy, so long as it includes due
process protections and safeguards human dignity.
This,
of course, is the rub. Too often immigration laws and enforcement
strategies fail to meet this standard, with immigrants and refugees
being denied due process rights
by the host country. In these situations, immigrants and refugees
cannot tell their stories or have their day in court.
Still,
some characterize the church position as an “open border” policy that
discounts the government’s responsibility to ensure the integrity of
national borders. Others
have gone so far as to say that the church in America wants more
Catholics in the pews and thus encourages lawbreaking: a “come one, come
all” posture.
Respecting Borders
In
truth, Catholic teaching, as articulated by several popes through the
years, is remarkably clear on national sovereignty and borders. Pius
XII, the author of “Exsul
Familia”—known as the Magna Carta on Catholic teaching on
migration—wrote to U.S. bishops in 1948 that while national sovereignty
“must be respected,” migrants should be accepted as long as “the public
wealth, considered very carefully, does not forbid this.”
Saint John XXIII, in his encyclical, “Pacem in Terris” ("Peace on
Earth"), taught that nation-states have an obligation to the “universal
common good” that requires them to welcome newcomers: “When there are
just reasons in favor of it, he [every human being]
must be permitted to emigrate to other countries to take up residence
there.” (No. 25)
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church reaffirms this position, stating that
richer nations have a higher obligation to accommodate migrants and
refugees than poorer ones.
“The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able,
to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and means of
livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin.” (No. 2241)
In
their joint pastoral letter, “Strangers No Longer: Together on the
Journey of Hope,” the U.S. and Mexican Catholic bishops offered this
prescription: “The Church recognizes
the right of the sovereign to control its borders in search of the
common good. It also recognizes the right of the persons to migrate so
they can realize their God-given rights. These teachings complement each
other. While the sovereign state can impose reasonable
limits on immigration, the common good is not served when the human
rights of the individual are violated.”
The Rights and Obligations of Nations
Pope
Francis has the opportunity to further expand this teaching in Mexico.
He is painfully aware of the human impact of borders and regularly
speaks against the kind
of globalization that allows commerce and capital to cross borders but
otherwise uses and then disposes of the individual who does the same.
“We need to avoid a common temptation these days,” he told Congress in
September, “to discard whatever proves troublesome.”
So
how will Pope Francis reconcile his call to governments to protect
immigrants and refugees while also acknowledging their right to manage
their borders and enforce
their laws?
His
recent address to the Vatican diplomatic corps gives us a clue.
Acknowledging the problems confronting European nations in receiving
thousands of Syrian and other
refugees, he insisted that they must continue to find ways to protect
them: “The present wave of migration seems to be undermining the
foundations of that ‘humanistic spirit’ which Europe has always loved
and defended. Yet there should be no loss of the values
and principles of humanity, respect for the dignity of every person,
mutual subsidiarity and solidarity, however much they may prove, in some
moments of history, a difficult burden to bear.”
This
is neither a new church teaching nor an “open borders” posture, but a
recognition of the inequality in the world and the need for all nations
to work together to
promote the universal common good. In Mexico, the Holy Father, in
reference to the families and children fleeing violence in Central
America, will likely continue this theme. He will remind us that
Catholic teaching, while recognizing the authority of states
to manage their borders, holds governments accountable to a greater
obligation to protect the lives and dignity of human beings who are
seeking refuge or a better life. This is neither a new church teaching
nor an “open borders” posture, but a recognition
of the inequality in the world and the need for all nations to work
together to promote the universal common good.
In
Pope Francis’ view, the universal common good is far from being met—he
characterizes the status quo as the “globalization of indifference.”
With a record 60 million
displaced around the world, now is not the time for nations to turn
inward, but to work together to protect migrants and refugees and
address the causes of the global crisis.
As
he said in his 2016 World Day of Migrants and Refugees statement,
nations cannot stand idly by as fellow human beings suffer and die;
otherwise they are partially to
blame. “The tragic stories of millions of men and women daily confront
the international community as a result of the outbreak of unacceptable
humanitarian crises in different parts of the world,” the pope said.
“Indifference and silence lead to complicity
whenever we stand by as people are dying of suffocation, starvation,
violence, and shipwreck.”
But
the Holy Father makes another point: only by addressing in a
straightforward and direct way the issues of migration and its
underlying causes would nations, and the
global community, ensure the common good and security of all, including
their own countries. Nations that close their doors to those in need
altogether would eventually see their own demise.
In
an era marked by terrorism and valid national security concerns, this
is a powerful, courageous and counterintuitive message. In perhaps the
most powerful passage of
his speech to Congress, he underscored this point: “In a word, if we
want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life;
if we want opportunities, let us give opportunities. The yardstick we
use for others will be the yardstick which time
will use for us.”
Walking with Migrants
In
a recent press conference, the Holy Father indicated his desire to
cross the U.S. border in “solidarity” with Mexican migrants, a
provocative statement that suggested,
at least to some, that he supports irregular migration. “To enter the
United States from the border with Mexico would be a beautiful gesture
of brotherhood and support for immigrants," he said.
To
the contrary, the pope’s message is that nations, including the United
States, should reconsider and remake their laws so migrants can safely
migrate to work and support
their families and refugees can find protection. He is reasserting, in a
profound way, that nations have a moral obligation to accommodate
migration to the degree possible, consistent with the time-honored
teaching of the church on human dignity and the common
good. He is also saying that in controlling their borders, governments
must respect the human and due process rights of migrants, who are not,
as he said in his 2014 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, “pawns on the
chessboard of humanity.”
His
trip to Lampedusa island, off the coast of Italy, in July 2013 to
remember migrants who drowned at sea, is instructive, as the U.S.-Mexico
border also is a site of
migrant deaths. Laying a wreath in the Mediterranean, Pope Francis
asked for forgiveness “for those who at the global level have created
situations that lead to these tragedies.” He no doubt will deliver a
similar message to the governments in this part of
the world.
Pope
Francis will reportedly lay flowers at a cross and pray when he visit
the border on Wednesday. Whether he will make a more significant
symbolic action is unclear,
but what will be clear is his position that, given the economic
inequality and violence in the world, the rights of migrants, more often
than not, must trump (pun intended) national borders. In the end,
sovereign states, individually and collectively, must
live up to their very purpose: to safeguard God-given rights and serve
the common good.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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